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R. FRANK.

BOOK SEWING MACHINE.

Patented Jan. 26, 1886 mwmmm mmmmm Wm /ZW.

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BOOK SEWING MACHINE.

No. 334,945. Patented Jan. 26, 1886.

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BOOK SEWING MACHINE.

Patented Jan. 26,-188

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R. FRANK.

BOOK SE WING MACHINE.

Patented. Jan. 26, 1886.

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheetfi. R. FRANK.

BOOK SEWING MACHINE. I No. 334,945. Patented Jan. 26, 1886.

FIGV.

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RUDOLPH FRANK, OF HAMBURG, GERMANY.

BOOK-SEWING MACHINE.

SPEGEIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 334,915, dated January 26, 1886.

Application tiled April 9, 1884. Serial No.127,147. 4X0 model.) Patented in France November 10, 1883, No. 158,470; in Belgium November 12. 1881?, No. 63,183, and in England November 23, 1883, No. 5,501.

To (ZZZ 111710112, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUDOLPH FRANK, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, and a resident of Hamburg, in the German Empire, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Book Sewing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to certain improvements in book sewing machines, by which books of any desired size can be sewed in a rapid and effective manner; and the invention consists of certain novel features in book-sewing machines,which will be fully described hereinafter, and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a front elevation of my improved book-sewing machine. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, partly in section, through the needlesupporting frame. Fig. 3 is a detail rear view of the reciprocating plate, showing the mechanism for alternately actuating the two sets of needle-bars. Figs. t and 5 are details of the shuttle-driver. Fig. 6 is adetail vertical longitudinal section of the shuttle. Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the machine; Fig. 8, a vertical transverse section of the machine on line A B, Fig. 1. Figs. 9 and 10 are detail vertical transverse sections and a plan of the needle-bar frame. Figs. 11 and 12 are vertical transverse sections of the mechanism for pricking the sheets before sewing. Figs. 18, 11, 15, 16, 18, and 19 are details of the mechanism for actuating the prickingneedles, and Fig. 17 is a detail horizontal section of the clutch for locking the sheet-receiving plate to the guiderails of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts.

F in the drawings represents the two outer standards of the supportirig-frame of my improved loook-sewing machine, and F the two middle standards which carry the journalbearings for the different motion-transmitting shafts. Between the middle standards, F, are arranged the oscillating needle-plate b and the inclined needle-bar frame with its thread tension and take up devices. The folded sheets of paper, which have to be sewed to gether to form a book, are placed successively on the oscillating needleplate b in such a manner that the fold of the paper is located at the adjoining edges of the needle-plate b and ofa guide-plate, if. which is arranged at right angles to the needle plate on the supporting frame of the same. Between the edges of the needle-plate I) and guideplate b is left a space of sufficient width for the passage of the needles, for which both plates are slightly recessed at the edges, as shown in Fig. 2. The needle-plate b is supported between a frame, 0, which is pivoted to a transverse shaft, b, that is supported in bearings of the middle standards, F, as shown in Figs. 1 and 7. Oscillating motion is imparted to the needleplate 1/ from the main shaft a by a cam, 1). (Shown clearly in Fig. 7.) The cam I)" is composed of two enlarged arc-shaped portions, which are arranged diametrically to each other and concentric to the shaft (1, said. enlarged portions engaging the outer end of a lever, I)", which iSflllClllll'lQd to a transverse shaft supported in bearings of the middle standards, F, and connected by pivot rods b to both sides of the oscillating frame I) of the needle-plate b, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7. The main shaft to receives rotary motion from a suitable power-shalt and intermediate transmitting-gearing. For each revolution of the main shaft a the needle-plate is oscillated twice by the cam b. The opposite end of the fulcrumed lever If is connected by a pivot-rod, b, with a sleeve at the upper end of a lever, b the lower end of which is pivoted t9 one of the middle standards, F. The pivot-rod b passes through the sleeve of the lever b and is cushioned by a spiral spring interposed between the sleeve and the end of the spring-rod b, when the cam b is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 7. The oscillating needle-plate is moved to the outside of the machine when the middle portion of the cam I), having the shortest radius, works upon the end of the lever b", in which position of the needle-plate a sheet of paper is placed in position thereon. \Vhen the outer enlarged parts of the cam b engage the lever I), the needleplate b is returned to the interior of the machine, and remains in the innermost position, (shown in Fig. 8,) while one of the arc-shaped and down motion to the needle-bars.

portions of the rain 1) forms contact with the lower part of the lever b as shown in Fig. 7, so as to allow the needles to pass through the paper and take up the shuttle-thread. The needles are affixed to inclined needle-bars c a, of which from ten to thirty are arranged in the machine, according to the size of the books to be sewed. The needle-bars c a slide in transverse guides c" c of the needle-frame. The needle-bars c 0 are provided at their under side with anti-friction rollers 0* and arranged in two sets, the rollers c of the set of needle-bars 0 being arranged nearer to the needles than those of the needle-bars c, as shown clearly in Figs. 9 and 10. The antifriction rollers a c of the needle-bars c c are guided in transverse grooves of a laterallyreciprocating plate, c which imparts an up- The upper groove of th plate 0" servesto guide the rollers a of the needle-bars a, while the lower groove serves to guide the rollers c of the needle bars 0. The straight transverse grooves of the plate a are provided at their middle portions with curved cam-grooves, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. which are either opened or closed by the locking-fingers (1*, so that alternately one set of needle-bars is caused to deseend when the rollers of thesame pass into one of the cam-grooves, while the otherset of needle-bars is held in raised position as its rollers pass along the second straight groove. When the cam-plate moves in the direction of the arrows, (shown in Fig. 1,) the upper straight groove is closed and the lower opened, while the upper cant-groove is opened and the lower closed, so that consequently the needle-bars c' are caused to descend as their rollers 0* pass along the open cam-groove, while the needle bars 0 remain at rest as their rollers pass along the open straight groove. The plate 0 issupported by vertical supports 0 on a transverse rod, 0 that is supported rigidly in position on the outer standards, F. The plate 0 is laterally reciprocated by means of a pin, a, of one of the supports a, which pin engages the spiral groove of a rotary reciprocating worm, c (Shown in Figs. 1 and 2.) The rotary reciprocating motion of the worm c is produced by means of a crank, a, attached to the end of the shaft;- a, the crank being pivoted to the lower end of a rack-bar, ad, the toothed portion of which engages a pinion, a, on an auxiliary shaft, a the rack-bar being held in mesh with said pinion bya guide-box with antifriction rollers c as shown in Figs. 2 and 7. The shaft a is supported in bearings of one of the inner and outer standards, F F, and turned alternately in opposite direction by the pinion a and the up-and-down motion of the rack-bar a", the rotary reciprocating motion being communicated by means-of gear-wheel of and pinion c to the worm a The alternating opening and closing of the cam-grooves of the plate 0 is obtained by oscillating levers df df, which are fulcrumed at d 'to the back of plate 0 and shown in detail in Fig. 3. At the ends of both levers d fd f the fingers d are formed, which are passed through the slotsf of the plate 0?, and extended into the grooves of the same at the points where the cam-grooves branch off from the straight guidegrooves. A disk, d provided with eccentric slots, is pivoted to a pin, d, and is connected with the levers dfolf by the pins d and d. The disk 61 is provided with a projecting pin, (1*, that is engaged a1- ternately by inclines d at the ends of lateral arms d of the needle-bar frame, as shown in Fig. 10. The contact of the incline d with the pin 01* causes the disk (1 to turn on its pivot, so as to oscillate the levers dfdf, whereby the fingers at the ends of the same are alternately thrown into the straight or cam grooves, so as to alternately open or close the same, and place thereby said grooves in condition to impart the proper motion to the needle-bars c or 0.

At the upper end of each needle-bar c c is arranged a pin, 0, which engages a take'up lever, c, that is slotted in such a manner that the tension of the needle thread is made to correspond with the position of the needle. All the takeup levers 0 are pivoted at their lower ends to a transverse rod, 0 which is supported in bearings of the side standards of the needle bar frame, as shown in Fig. 9. When the needle-thread is to be slackened after the book or other article is sewed, abandlever, 0,- (shown in Figs. 7 and 10,) is raised, whereby the perforated thread guide plate 0 changes its position and is raised above the thread-holes of the transverse guide-bar 0 The spools deliver, consequently, a certain length of thread to each needle,which threads can be drawn through the needle-eyes when the lever 0 is returned into the normal position. The lower ends of the vertical supports 0 are connected by a transverse bar, 6, that is parallel to the fixed rod 0 The shuttle'driver e is attached to the transverse bar e. shuttle g rests on a spring-support, 6 of the shuttle-driver e. A C-shaped hand-spring, g, is attached to the bottom of the shuttle 9, its free end bearing on the flange of the shuttle-bobbin, so as to exert abrake-action thereon, while its bent middle portion presses against the thread wound on the bobbin, as shown in Fig. 6. The needles of each system of needle-bars,which are placed at an inclination of about thirty degrees to the horizontal, perforate the paper, which is kept in proper position on the needle-plate b by thepressurefoot k, by the action of the cam-grooves of the laterally-reciprocating plate 0 The needles pass along the recesses at the edge of the neodle-plate b, and are then slightly raised by means of the short bent portion 00 of the camgrooves of the plate 0 in order to enlarge the loop of the thread for the passage of the shuttle. The shuttle is brought by the shuttledr i ver eto the first needle, its point entering between the needle and thread, so as to enlarge the loop of the needle-thread still more.

IIO

The

In order to press that point of the shuttle which is, according to the direction of the motion of the shuttledriver, the foremost one, more closely against the needle, the shuttleis supported by two pairs of pivoted fingers, e eflwhich are arranged below each end of the shuttle and adapted to engage a bottom recess of the same. During the motion of the shuttle-driver the shuttle is somewhat retarded by the drag of the shuttle thread, so that it presses thereby the finger e of the hind pair backward. As the finger e of each pair is connected with the finger e by a tooth that takes into a recess of the finger a the hind finger, c isinclined forward, and consequently the forward end of the shuttleis raised toward the needle. The shuttle. after passing all the needles of one set of needle-bars, enters into a fixed side chamber, h,of which one is arranged at each side of the oscillating frame I) of the needle-plate b.

At the inside of the front plate of each chamber h is arranged an inclined bar, h", the

position of which is regulated by an exterior screw, it, passing through a nut, If, of the inclined bar, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5. \Vhen the shuttle enters the chamber h, the lever 6 that is pivoted to the shuttle-driver 0, slides upward on the inclined bar h, so that an upwardly-extending heel or projection, c, of said lever c is raised and passed through a slot at the bottom of the shuttle below the bent end of the tensionspring 9, so as to compress the latter and exert a pressure on the shuttle-bobbin,whereby the same is prevented from turning and delivering thread. The needle-threads, after being drawn through the holes of the needles, are passed through the holes of a transverse plate, m", and are attached at the beginning of the work to holes of a plate, at,

4 which slides back of the plate m on horizontal guide-rails m. The plate at and the needle threads are drawn away from the needle-plate b by weights 10, which are suspended on cords passing over pulleys, as shown in l'ig. 8. While the needle-plate b is oscillated in outward direction the sheet of paper is held by the ncedle-threadsin suspended position. The needles and pressure-bar 7c are raised, so that an intermittently actuated k nocker, a, can strike the sheet and move it home toward the plate in. The k nocker is fastened to the shaft at, having a pinion, n. A rack at the front end of the rack-bar a" is in mesh with the pinion a, while a notched portion at the rear end of the rack-bar n engages a pin on the lever b as shown in Fig. 7. The oscillations of the lever I) operate the rack-bar a pinion n, and knocker a. The rear end of the rackbar a" is provided with a handle, by which it can be lifted from the pin of the lever b whenever it is desired to interrupt the oscillating motion of the knocker a and lift it out of the way into the position shown in Fig. 8 when the machine is at rest. The transverse plate at is moved toward the needleplate b by weights w,which are suspended from cords "ingstandards of the machine,

that are passed over pulleys at the middle parts of the guide-rails m and attached to hooks at the rear ends of the rods m The front ends of the rods m are connected to the plate at, while the slotted rear ends are pro vided with transverse clutches m", that are placed in the slots at the rear ends of the rods m as shown in Fig. 17, and that engage by slots the guide-rails m and exert a locking action on the same by the action of spiral springsmi", interposed between brackets of the rods in and the transverse clutches m. The moment when the knocker nimparts a blow to the plate m so as to press a new sheet home against the plate m", the clutches 711* are pushed back by the rods m into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 17, whereby the action of the spiral springs m on the clutches is interrupted for a moment, so that the rod m can be moved backward on the guide-rails m. At the moment when the pressure of the knocker on the plate at is interrupted the springs m move the clutches m into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 17, and lock thereby the rods m again to the guide-rails m, and into position to receive the next sheet and the nextblow oftheknocker. The larger the number of sheets strung up on the needle-threads in front of the plate W, the farther is the same from the needleplate. The plate m keeps up the tension of the needle-threads and recedes with the increasing thickness of the sheets sewed together by the machine.

For books made of thicker and better paper it is preferable to use the pricking attachment illustrated in Figs. 11 to 17. For ordinary work the pricking attachment is not required, as the machine will perform its work equally well without pricking the paper before the needles pass throughit; but for finer work it is advisable to use the attachment, as thepricking-needles will throw the burr ot' the stitching-holes toward the back of the sewed book.

The pricking attachment consists of a number of awls corresponding to the number of needles employed in the machine. Thepricking-awlsare fastened to theawl-holders 0 0,arranged in two systems, like the needlebarsc c. The awl-holders 0 0 slide in inclined guides 19 p, which are arranged below the needleplate I) at the inside of the needle-plate frame b. The awl-holders are supported by the guides 19 p in inclined position midway between the needle-plate b and guide-plate b, as shown clearly in Figs. 11 and 12.

The pricking-awls receive their motion by fulcrumed bell-crank levers q 1' and q 1", the bent lower arms, a 1", of which are pushed backward alternately by the inclines 2' i of a stirrup, i", which slides by inclined slots 11* up and down on the pins 1' of the rail 6. A lever, 1?, is fulcrurned to a fixed bar of the supportand provided with a projecting pin, i, at thelower end.

This pin 6 is engaged by a finger, i, (shown in Figs. 18 and 19 of the drawings,) which is fastened to the oscillating shaft b", and which alternately moves the fulcrumed lever i into a raised or lowered position, as shown, respectively, in Figs. 14 and 15. When the lever i is in a nearly vertical position and the stirrup moving in the direction of the arrow, as shown in Fig. 14, the latter is raised along the pins 1) until stopped by the fulcrumed lever i, when the same abuts against the stop-pin i When the lever i is in its lower position, the upper arm of the lever i causes the stirrup to descend again. When the lever i is in horizontal position, the stirrup i is reciprocated with the rail e without touching said lever. In the raised position of the stirrup i the incline i pushes the bent arms r backward, so that the awl-holders 0 are moved upward and perforate the paper, while the spiral springs interposed between the guides 19 19 return the awl-holders into their normal position as soon as the arms 0" have passed beyond the incline t. In the lowermost position of the stirrup 2' (shown in Figs. 1 and the incline i is at the same level as the arms r and engages them so as to operate the awl-holders 0. The awls are shaped in such a manner as to prick a hole apexes.

of the form of two triangles connected at their To effect this the awls are ground in the shape of a wedge and the ground faces deepened at their center. The awl-point assumes thereby the form of a capital letter M, as shown in Fig. 15.

Operation: When the oscillating needle-plate b arrives at its outermost position, as shown in Fig. 7, the folded sheet of paper is placed thereon, so that one half rests on the needleplate I), the other part on the guide-plate b the fold of the paper being at the apex of the angle formed by the plates b b The needle-threads are next passed through the holes of the plate m and attached to the holes of the plate m. When the needle-plate has arrived at its innermost position, as shown in Fig. 8, one set of needle-bars descends, so that the needles pierce the paper. The needle-threads form loops below the paper for the passage of the shuttle g. The loops of the needle-threads are then bound off by the shuttle-thread in the v usual manner. On the return motion of the needle-bars the needle-plate is oscillated in outward direction again and the sheet of paper just stitched moved clear away from the same and brought home against the plate m by the knocker' n. The next sheet is then placed in position on the oscillating plates b b exposed by the inward motion of the same to the action 'of the second set of needles, the stitches of which alof the sheets as the shuttle passes to and fro between the sheets, the outer ends of the shuttle-thread being cut off when the book is trimmed. The greater the thickness of the book the farther are the plates m andm moved in backward direction, one by the action of the knocker, the other by the action of the tension-weight w. Vhen all the sheets of the book are stitched, the tension-plate 0 is lifted by lever 0, so that a sufficient supply of thread is furnished to admit the cutting off of the needle-threads and the removal of the book from the machine. The needlethreads are then again passed through the holes of the plate in" and attached to the holes of the plate m and the next book then sewed, and soon.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. The combination of an oscillating needleplate, a series of needle-bars arranged in two sets, a laterally-reciprocating plate for actuating said sets of needle-bars alternately, a single shuttle operating with both sets of needle-bars, and means, substantially as described, for reciprocating the shuttle, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with an oscillating needle-plate, of a series of needle-bars arranged in two alternating sets, and a laterallyreciprocating plate having straight grooves and cam-grooves for alternately operating said sets, substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the oscillating needleplate 12, arms b, cam b, fulcrumed levers b b, spring-cushioned lever b and rods b,connecting the lever b with the needle-plate b, substantially as described.

4. The combination of two alternating sets of needle-bars, c c, laterallyreciprocating plate 0 having straight and cam grooves, fulcrumed leversf d and f d, having pins d d, and fingers d passing through openings of the plate 0 slotted disk (1 pin (1*, and inclines (1 substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of two alternating sets of needle-bars, c c, a laterally-reciprocating plate, 0 guide-rods 0 pin 0 spirallygrooved rotary reciprocating worm c transmittinggears 0 w, shaft a, pinion a rack-bar a and main shaft a, having crank a, pivoted to the rack-bar, substantially as specified.

6. The combination of the reciprocating needle-bars c c, take-up levers o and tension: plate 0, having lever o, and transverse guide-bars 0 having holes for the passage of the needle-threads, substantially as specified.

7. The combination of the lever b rackbar 12 pinion n, knocker n, presser-plate m guide-rails m, thread-plate m, and clutches m, the clutches being located at the rear ends of the rods m substantially as set forth.

8. The combination, with the needle-plate b and supporting-plate if, of alternating sets of awl-holders 0 0, two sets of fulcrumed levers q r and q r, and a stirrup, 12, attached ICC.

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to the rail of the shuttle-driver, and provided In testimony that I claim the forgeoing as with inclines ii, for actuating the awlh0lders, my invention 1 have signed my name, in pressubstantially as specified. ence of two witnesses, this 5th day of October,

9. The combination of the transverse rail 6, 1883.

5 having guidepins i asliding stirrup, i having inclined slots 2' and inclines z i, a fulcrumed RUDOLPH FR ANK. lever, i having pin 2', and an oscillating stoplever, i, said lever i being actuated by a \Vitnesses: finger on the oscillating shaft 6 substantially ALEXANDER SPECHT,

10 as set forth. EMIL HAASE. 

